Retailers Look to Roll out Proactive Marketing

Minneapolis—Jan. 15, 2014—Direct Source, a tier-one retail technology consultant and solutions provider, is working with GPShopper, a mobile solutions company, to help retailers implement the latest in Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacon technology.

Beacons, small wireless sensors placed within a physical structure, such as a retail store, enable retail commerce and marketing systems to push messaging to mobile devices based on hyper-local geographic locations and also help retailers track shopper movements within a store.

Beacons can be used to proactively deliver informational or marketing messages to shoppers, including entry/exit messaging or in-aisle promotional targeting. Shoppers can receive instant information on promotions or immediate customer support for an enriched in-store experience. While beacons can support customized message delivery to shoppers through store-branded mobile applications, the retailer's app is not required to be open for beacon technology to work.

“By integrating beacons with the GPShopper mobile content management system, setup, management and reporting are seamless,” said Alex Muller, CEO, GPShopper. “This allows retailers to manage messaging by location within the store or even by geography to set regional messaging. Additionally, the GPShopper beacon software development kit (SDK) makes it possible to plug in beacons to any existing retailer mobile application.”

Based on the hyper-local tracking, the technology allows retailers to gather store-level heat-mapping data and use analytics to create an improved store environment based on anonymous shopper behavior. Beacon technology is currently available on Apple iPhone 4 and above with Apple iOS 7 and smartphones running Android 4.3 and above.

“One key to engaging customers today is to make a connection at the point-of-decision,” said Brad Fick, president, Direct Source. “By sharing customized offers for products that the shopper is already close to physically, the decision to buy is even easier.”